Category Archives: Quilt A Longs

So yesterday I shared with you all the making of my version of the Yuma quilt pattern for the Gotham Quilts Yuma QAL Today I can share with you the quilting of said quilt and how much fun I had using a reasonably simple pantograph quilting design.

I am a long arm quilter and as much fun as it is to make a quilt, I probably lean towards making a quilt so that I can quilt it. I had grand plans for the quilting of Yuma but I am also mindful of the fact that fabric plays a big role in what type of quilting I would put on a quilt.Here’s a recap of the fabrics I chose from what I had in my studio to make my Yuma. Red is a favourite colour of mine and the rest are part of the range so they all tone really well. However they all have pattern and detail and unless I was going to quilt in bright yellow, it was going to get lost in the print detail.

Pantographs are often a quick way to add some interest to a quilt with quilting design but can also be quite simple and more functional in nature.

It might sound silly to some readers but I was ridiculously happy to find that the panto pattern called Tannenbaum by Lorien Quilting ‘fit’ this quilt perfectly. The triangular shape accents the triangles in the piecing and the spacing fits the triangles also. I will attempt to show you what I mean in pictures.

You may notice all the stars at the top of the ‘tree’ line up really well across the quilt and fall in just the right place to be in the centre of a smaller triangle or at the top of another triangle and so the ‘tree’ is in the centre of the shape. This good fit happened all the way down the quilt. For me this was a good thing and made me happy.

The thread colour I chose is a lovely sage green by Rasant. As I mentioned it’s not obvious in most places as I did not choose a bright yellow colour, but it adds enough to finish the quilt and lets the piecing and fabric choices be the feature. Sometimes as a quilter my job is to know that this is all a quilt needs. Had I made Yuma in plain or tone on tone fabrics, then the quilting would have been vastly different.The binding on my Yuma quilt is in the same red print as the background fabric. I do like the finish in red. If you would like to see how I do binding then please go to Sunflower Stitcheries to the binding tutorial I have written.

And a small section of the back for those who like to see the back of quilt, I am one of these people.Now I mentioned yesterday that Gotham Quilts is giving one of my readers/commenters a prize. You’ll need to leave a comment on this post to be considered and if you comment on yesterday’s post I will add your name to the hat a second time. The prize will be awarded on the 12th August. The prize is a $25 voucher to spend at the Gotham Quilts website and there are some great things to find. Be sure to leave your contact details so I can pass that on to Gotham Quilts to contact the recipient of the voucher.

Gotham Quilts have recently moved premises and if I ever get to New York, I will be putting a visit on my to do list. I would like to thank Gotham Quilts for their prize and in particular Ivete for being so lovely to work with.

If you have yet to visit some of the other creative people involved in sharing their Yuma story, here’s the list again with dates.

If you have been wavering, do I want to make this quilt or not? It was easy to make and quite quick really. There are sections that can be achieved in blocks of sewing, that’s what I did. And the cost of the pattern you can’t argue with – it’s free. The other things you find to purchase on the Gotham Quilts website I am not responsible for, but have fun looking.

I’m a few days late as I have been busily quilting a clients show quilt and also celebrating my husband’s change in career. However I have now sorted my pictures and am ready to share with you my Yuma quilt. I hope there are lots of you out there making this quilt along with the blog writers, I’m really interested to see what variety there is when we all link up pictures at the end. My previous post had all the links to other quilters/bloggers and the dates to see there versions. Don’t forget to show us how you have made Gotham Quilts Yuma pattern.

Right onto some pics. I should remind you all now that this is a free pattern on the Gotham Quilts website. It was easy to make and quite quick to put together. Choosing my lights and darks was fun, I probably spent too much time on this but I’m happy with the outcome.

HST – Half Square Triangles, not hard and quite fats if you have chain piecing set up and some good music to listen to. I had some of my favourites blaring in the background while I sewed.

I have used the Frixion pens to mark a quilt previously and probably won’t use them on the front again, for this they are perfect. A good clear line that will be in the seam allowance, easier to see than pencil.I sew along one side of the line then turn the block and sew the second side straight away. The small carry of thread gets cut when the HST are separated. Chain piecing is still possible this way.

In the pic above they are all pressed and ready to cut so the frixion pen line has gone. Lots of pressing at this point.

Then I laid out the HST and cut triangles to make up the larger pieced triangles, I was pleased I had a table to lay it out on. This was a part I was glad to see visually.

Now piecing on a diagonal has a thought process behind it, you need to allow some overhang so that when you have sewn the seam the piece lines up with a straight edge, the pic below show when I did this well, some others I needs to redo to get the best result. Once I got into the swing of it I was fine.There are lots of bias edges in this quilt so I was pretty careful but you know, I had no trouble with them at all.

I’m not a fan of pins but I use them when I need to, I did pin the long seams for the strips. To help with the triangles I used the pin to line up the points and then pinned ready for sewing. I’m also one for pressing seams to one side and I had not trouble with making the quilt this way.Now my points were not always perfect, but I have to admit thinking of a saying my Nanna used “A blind man on a horse would be happy to see that”. There are other versions of this around as well.You don’t need a big picture of my less than perfect seam.

These are the first half strips laid out ready for joining. And below is the first half joined. As you can see I lose my background in the centre (on the right of the picture) as it is very similar to the fabric I chose for the large triangles in the centre of the pattern, this is the only thing I would change on my Yuma quilt. The subtlety is growing on me though, blind man and horse thing as well.

My quilt is now together and will be quilted this afternoon. I plan to show you that tomorrow and Ivete from Gotham Quilts has provided me a prize to give to a visitor to my blog who leaves a comment. If you have read this far I hope you enjoyed the pictures of my Yuma journey, come back tomorrow and leave me a comment to be considered for the Gotham Quilts prize. Comments are always welcome. The time frame for this prize is 3 weeks from today, the 12th August 2015. You will be notified then if you are the recipient.

If you want to see other pictures of quilts I make and quilt for clients you can find me on social media Facebook and Instagram are the main ones. I have been posting pics of my Yuma using #yumaQAL.

It’s not too late to make your own Yuma and be part of the QAL. The link party is not until August so you have time to join in. See the links above for the pattern.

One of my plans this year was to embark on a few project for myself. Make and then quilt some of my own things. I love quilting for others but I don’t get to keep them and then I have nothing to show new clients. Sometimes it’s good to have things to show people that I really do know what I’m doing here.

Well Ivete from Gotham Quilts put up a request for some blogger to take part in a QAL for her new pattern call Yuma. Follow the links to find Gotham Quilts and also the free Yuma pattern. You can also find blog posts by other quilters about their Yuma QAL choices here.

I love the idea of making a quilt while other crafters make it as well. It’s always interesting to see the different fabric choices we all make and how that affects the finished quilt, then of course I like to see how they quilt it as well.

Here are my fabric choices for my Yuma. I’ve chosen a range of fabric I have in the studio called Frosted Memories by Moda.

Jen over at Faith and Fabric made some bright Halloween table runners using part of the pattern, she mentions a few tips in her blog post as well.

Chris at ChrissieD has a terrific post about sewing the triangles which might daunting to some. Gorgeous pics there as well.

So if you a still considering joining, it’s not too late. My post is due later in July but I am going to be sewing my Yuma in the next few days. Remember this is a free pattern and you can still join in, also you can sign up to receive any emails about the Yuma QAL here

The remainder of the QAL will show how other crafters have made their versions of Yuma, you can follow these links after the dates shown.

I am really looking forward to this quilt, and I’ll let you know how challenging I find the triangles. I hope you consider joining in, it’s not too late. Share your pics as well using the hashtag #yumaQAL, I’ll be sharing my pics on Instagram (@sunflowerquilting), Facebook and Twitter, and possibly Flikr. The internet is amazing.